Compare Prices on Carnival Victory Western Caribbean Cruises

Carnival Victory - Western Caribbean

Sail Date:
October 2003

Destination:
Western Caribbean

Embarkation:
Miami

Carnival Victory

Before I went on my recent cruise, a fellow travel agent said she was very disappointed on her Carnival Victory cruise out of NYC (said staff and service was rude). This sailing was the first Caribbean cruise of the fall season for the Victory. I kept an open mind though.

On our cruise I noticed the staff was not very attentive. They constantly walked in front of me, cutting me off in my tracks. They were in there own little world. A staff officer walked over a big spill on the floor twice until a cruiser pointed it out to him.

I can see why they call this the "party cruise line". Even though they are shying away from that reputation, when they booked almost 500 spanish-speaking young SINGLE folks what did they expect. There were 2 fist fights in the casino the first night and a possible stabbing. I was told they hired extra security for this sailing, but the security men were not there when the fight broke out. They had to be summoned. More
After that incident, security was visible the rest of the cruise. They looked like secret service agents! Made me feel a little uncomfortable but safer.

Next came the late night parties out on the Lido deck side. These single folks congregated every night. It usually broke up around 3am when they were hooting and hollering in the hallways the first 2-3 nights (obviously intoxicated). I felt they had little regard for those of use trying to sleep. I finally complained to the security office. Carnival rewarded us with a 20% off coupon for our inconvenience. That was nice, but not expected.

I also felt that the ship activities were lacking. On some days there was nothing to do if you did not participate in a shore excursion. It rained one day at port, so we came back to the ship early. There was nothing planned! So of course we went to the bar and drank. Another disappointment was the amount of times I had to say NO to drinks. The drink servers were over attentive! I must have had to say no 30-40 times a day! I kid you not. They pushed the alcohol too much! When a cruiser asked for soda refills the waitress forgot twice to refill his drink (he had drink card). She remembered my drink though and that upset him. Then she got regular soda TWICE before she got it right. This upset him, so he said something to her. She got RUDE with him! I could not believe it. Those who witnessed this display wrote up comment cards on the server.

Lastly, I felt their midnight buffet was not very plentiful. They did not have much of a selection. Several cruisers mentioned this to me. They also complained about the staff/service problems to me. They did fill out comments cards at the end. Maybe we will see changes to the Victory. I hope so. I feel the problems and comments that I stated here are just related to the Carnival Victory on that particular sailing.

Otherwise, this cruise was great. It was my husbands' and my first cruise together in 10 years. It was also my first balcony room which was GREAT! We made several friends. Had a great time otherwise. Less